I suspect some of you are going to get tired of me posting about this one between now and August 24. Apologies in advance, but trust me, I’ve shown great restraint in saving up my Action Comics #1-related post count until the auction opening.

The run-up to the auction for this other CGC 9.0 copy of Action Comics #1 has not disappointed in that regard. There has been some spirited discussion regarding the book’s history. There have been some pointed comparisons between this copy and the Nic Cage copy. There were eyebrows raised about ebay as the choice of venue, when auction houses with extensive high-end comic experience such as Heritage, ComicConnect, and Comiclink have been the go-to choices for sellers at this level.

Eyebrows were further raised when ebay initially required prospective buyers to pre-qualify by providing proof of $3 million of available assets, and then dropped that requirement to $2 million, according to reports of collectors who went through the qualifying process. Ebay has stated that 75 people applied for bidding, but it’s unclear how many qualified under those requirements.

But the book is technically the best-graded copy inside a CGC slab (though both this copy and the Cage copy are CGC 9.0, this copy has a white pages designation), it has rather astonishing eye-appeal, and watching the auction rocket from 99 cents to $1.6 million in two hours of spirited bidding among five of those pre-qualified well-heeled collectors has gone a long ways towards setting the stage for where this auction might be heading.

A strong opening does not assure a record-breaking auction, but it does make it difficult to bet against this copy surpassing the $2.16 million mark that the Cage copy set in 2011. As for the final hammer price… I’m going to guess I’ll have at least a couple posts to make on this auction between now and August 24.